Suffolk Council Approves Controversial Racetrack

March 30, 1995|By JO ANN FROHMAN Daily Press

SUFFOLK — A proposed auto speedway, stalled recently by a roar of opposition, shifted back into first gear late Wednesday when Suffolk leaders reaffirmed their endorsement of the controversial project.

Despite protests from dozens of would-be neighbors of the 7,500-seat speedway and an adjacent industrial park, City Council members voted, 6-1, to support the project.

"You have ruined my life, you have ruined my community's life, all for the sake of a racetrack," said Mary Richardson, who lives near the site of the project.

More than 300 people turned out for the long hearing. Members of the group Citizens Against the racetrack passed out anti-racetrack stickers at the door. The group had organized eight speakers to outline their opposition to the track, which includes traffic problems, excessive noise and environmental concerns.

The speedway, set to open next spring, is planned for a site at the intersection of Nansemond Parkway and Shoulders Hill Road, less than a mile west of Interstate 664 and the Chesapeake line.

Norfolk attorney Gordon Tayloe, representing the opponents, asked the council to either table the project or to vote against it.

"My clients are not trying to deny you a tax base, nor or we against the racetrack," Tayloe said. "It is the location that is the problem."

Opponents of the project said they fear noise from the operation will be a nuisance and that traffic generated by the race track will create safety problems on the two-lane roads that criss-cross the area.

The city, however, brought in a "noise expert" from California, who said that for nearby residents, sounds from the race cars will be similar to the noise levels of a neighbor cutting grass or using a motorized weed cutter.

Supporters said within 10 years, the project will create 1,600 new jobs and pump more than $2.6 million into city coffers in the form of tax revenues and other fees.

The council approved a conditional use permit for the project Jan. 4, after a tense, four-hour debate. About a dozen conditions, including an annual review and an 11 p.m. curfew, were put on the project.

But opponents of the track refused to give up their fight and appeared at subsequent council meetings in January and February.

The residents, from Suffolk and Chesapeake, also filed a lawsuit in February, claiming that zoning changes to accommodate the project violate Suffolk's comprehensive plan and should be overturned.

Chesapeake-based Upton & Arnette Associates is developing the racetrack and the industrial park.

Racetrack officials said that the racing season at the speedway would run from the last Saturday in March to the last Saturday in October and that races would be held every Friday or Saturday, but not both.